WE ARE TWIN SISTERS who are IDENTICAL in some areas and SO DIFFERENT in others. we enjoy blogging about being mommies and about the things we love: music, books, art, design, crafts...

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

henry's birth story, part two. birthing time.

* i spent a lot of time after henry's birth beating myself up because it didn't happen exactly the way i wanted it to. in hypnobabies we are taught to create the kind of birth experience we want to have, and i believe that is possible--to a certain extent. but i put a lot of pressure on myself to do it perfectly and exactly the way i had planned and envisioned for so long. when that didn't happen, i'll admit, i thought i was a failure. i was bitterly disappointed. i think that's why it's taken me almost a full year to finish this birth story. i started writing it the day i got home from the hospital, so the day after henry was born. now, looking back a full year later, i'm proud of myself. i worked hard to bring my baby into the world, and in the end, i accomplished what i wanted to. i felt every feeling that i hadn't felt in my prior birth experiences. i knew when it was time to push, and i felt him arrive in this world (sorry if that's tmi.) i was calm and collected (almost) the entire time. i brought my baby into the world myself, with some wonderful assistance from a blessing of a doctor and some amazing nurses. my goal in attempting to give birth naturally was to prove to myself that my body, as out of shape and imperfect and messed up as it was (and is,) could do amazing things. that i could trust my body. that my body was a miracle. and i did prove that to myself, i did.*

march 12th ( a week after my due date) arrived and at 7am i went to the hospital to be induced. the nurse told me that my doctor had asked for no pitocin to be given at first (thank you doctor!!), that he was coming to break my water. so when he showed up at around 8:40 my water was broken (really uncomfortably, that might've been the worst part of the whole thing!)and at first it only came out in a trickle. but then more and more of it came out and when i went to the bathroom i noticed some blood. i had to be hooked up to the monitor for 20 minutes to make sure the baby was ok.my contractions started to feel real, and hard, so after the monitoring was over i asked if i could get in the tub. i LOVED the tub. i spent most of my labor in there, with the lights off, listening to hypnobabies and keeping my "light switch" (light switch is a hypnobabies thing, if anyone's interested in hearing more about that, let me know in the comments) in either the off or center positions. one time i got out of the tub to go to the bathroom and i noticed my contractions felt a lot harder and closer together. then i got back in the tub and listened to hypnobabies and they felt manageable and more comfortable. with the lights off and the warm water all around me and the relaxing hypnobabies playing, i almost felt like i could fall asleep at times. i wish i could've stayed in that tub the whole time, but the nurse, tammy, who was awesome by the way, told me that i needed to get out of the tub so they could check how far i had progressed. i was hoping for a 9 but thinking it was probably more like 5 or 6 (i had been a 3 or 4 at the beginning of this process.) when they checked me they said i was a 7. but they also needed to do 20 more minutes of fetal monitoring, and when they did that they saw the baby's heart rate dip a lot during contractions. so they had to keep me in bed and on the monitors. this made listening to hypnobabies more difficult but i put it on the headphones and had one more wire to untangle and move out of the way. the nurse kept checking me over and over. she said, "normally i can tell just by looking at someone's face how far along they are but i can't tell at all with you!" hypnobabies was keeping me really calm. pretty soon i was to a 9 and everyone kept telling me how good i was doing. but it was getting harder and harder to stay focused. they had put an oxygen mask on me that kept slipping down my face, and i wasn't staying in hypnosis because of that and all the wires were bothering me and every time i had a contraction, instead of listening to my hypnobabies i started listening to the fetal monitor, trying to hear the baby's heart beat. which i couldn't, because the oxygen was so loud. and the hypnobabies had to play louder because of that. i started to lose focus, and i started feeling a lot of pain with the contractions. they checked me a couple more times and i kept being a 9. i started to get frustrated. every time a contraction came i felt panicked, like i was losing it. i felt such a strong urge to get up and move around, like every fiber of my being was telling me to get up, but i couldn't. now i know i was in transition, but then i just thought i was going to be stuck at a 9 forever. i stopped listening to the hypnobabies because i couldn't hear it and i wasn't staying in hypnosis because of all the distractions. at this point the contractions were coming very quickly and even when they weren't coming i felt like i was losing my cool. so i asked for an epidural.as soon as the epidural guy got there (the same guy that had given me an epidural with charlie,)they got me on my side and he started to work. but i could feel the baby coming! i thought he was going to have to stop giving me the epidural because i could really feel that pressure that everyone says means it's time to push. i was saying, "he's coming right now! he's coming!" and the doctor and the nurse were like, it's o.k, honey, it's o.k., but i was sure that he was just going to slip right out while they were in the process of giving me the epidural. as soon as the epi guy was done i started pushing. pushed through 3 contractions and he was out. he was out and he was on my chest. he was here and he was perfect. his first act in this world was to pee on the nurse and start screaming. but they had to take him away very quickly to clean out his lungs and make sure he was breathing ok because there had been meconium in my amniotic fluid. (which basically means that he might've inhaled some of that nasty stuff.)anyway, long story incredibly long, his lungs turned out ok after some great work from the nurses and some time on oxygen in the nursery.and looking back, i could've done without the epidural if i had known he would've been born about 10 minutes after they gave it to me! :)

9 comments:

Great story, Jo. Thanks for sharing! I've done Hypnobirthing with both of my babies so far and am super excited to do it with #3 coming in August. It's such an incredible experience, and yet I meet so few people who are willing to even think about trying. So it's refreshing to hear a great story from someone else close to me. :)

erynn,thanks for commenting! wow, i'm so proud of you for doing hypnobirthing, even on your first baby. with millie i had no clue what was going on, so i admire you for being in charge as much as you have to be when you use hypnotherapy. well done!

[p]It looks like Gerrard was doing her Christmas shopping a little early, so you could even join in if you like and treat yourself to a few of these goodies . Leather-based is actually typically the most popular materials that is extremely long lasting . Purse/clutch bag: A purse or pouch is a handled medium-to-large bag fashionably designed, typically used by women to hold personal items . Few things you can consider while choosing the right custom bags manufacturer:

- Firstly, find out if they implement green standards right from the production lines and processing (This way,your handbags are naturally free from hazardous chemical treatments) . I personally love the leather tote in this season隆炉s key colour of coral but if I隆炉m truly sticking to my mum隆炉s advice, I may [url=http://www.chanelbagsoutlett.co.uk]chanel bags[/url] opt for the elegant patent leather tote in pearl . You can quickly customise printed carrier bags by getting your business logo, company name, and website URL on the [url=http://www.cchanelhandbagssale.co.uk]chanel handbags[/url] bag . I personally love the Maison small shoulder bag in purple and I think the Skye slim laptop bag in Peacock is absolutely divine . Gucci handbags come in all sizes, colors, and styles . Decide which brands,types of purses and handbags you want to create and sell.[/p]

Hi thеre ϳust wanted to giѵe you a quick headѕ up. The text in yоur post seem tο be running οff the sсreen in Inteгnet eхploгer.I'm not sure if this is a format issue or something to do with browser compatibility but I thought I'ԁ ροst to lеt you know.Τhe layout look great though! Ηope yοu gеt thе ρгοblem sоlvеd ѕoоn.

Say, "O People of the Scripture, come to a word that is equitable between us and you - that we will not worship except Allah and not associate anything with Him and not take one another as lords instead of Allah." But if they turn away, then say, "Bear witness that we are Muslims [submitting to Him]." O People of the Scripture, why do you argue about Abraham while the Torah and the Gospel were not revealed until after him? Then will you not reason? Here you are - those who have argued about that of which you have [some] knowledge, but why do you argue about that of which you have no knowledge? And Allah knows, while you know not. Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian, but he was one inclining toward truth, a Muslim [submitting to Allah]. And he was not of the polytheists. Indeed, the most worthy of Abraham among the people are those who followed him [in submission to Allah] and this prophet, and those who believe [in his message]. And Allah is the ally of the believers. A faction of the people of the Scripture wish they could mislead you. But they do not mislead except themselves, and they perceive [it] not. O People of the Scripture, why do you disbelieve in the verses of Allah while you witness [to their truth]?